No intention to argue either, believe me. Your words just sounded like the opposite to what Joe suggests (they still do to me!). When your plan doesn't make you money it means you've got to modify it (or stop trading). This doesn't mean you have to change the method (never said that: that's the basis of the whole matter!) You just have to mould your trading plan, like Andy did, and if it still doesn't work, go back to paper trading, again like Andy did, until you find it working. Very very clear in Joe's theory.
Maybe some words about changing the trading plan: I totally agree in not changing the trading plan to often but it is necessary for each trader to know, when the markets change and when it is necessary to stop trading the plan or to make some changes. I want to give an example. If you have nice long trends in the markets, it is much more profitable to use a trailing stop for the second lot. At the moment the long trends are over you do much better if you have a fixed target. This does not mean you are changing your way of trading, this just means you try to make the best out of each situation. I have learned from Joe that it is necessary to do the homework every week. This means to go thru the trades to see if the market has changed. Does a 10 tick target work or is it better to go for 8 or 12 ticks now? Is the market faster or slower? Do you have to change the time stop? All this has to be done by a trader and it is much more important then trading itself. Additionally I stop trading if my equity is reaching a certain point and switch to paper trading. I just want to get out myself of the markets if there is something getting wrong. Of course each trader and each individual has to find his own way in how to handle such problems. I will never tell anyone to do it my way because it will probably not work. All I can do is to make others thinking about a problem and to start some discussions. That's what happened now here on the journal. Have all a nice weekend, Andy PS I agree with discipline in trading. To me it makes more then 90% of the trading success. But discipline does not mean to ignore market signals. This is something else.
Mini Russell 30 minutes: 9:00am â Short TTE (RH) at 6331, initial stop at 6339 â covered at 6323. Result for today: +16 ticks (+$160) Mini Dow 5 minutes: 9:10am â Short at 10523 (reversal trade), initial stop at 10531 â all out at 10531. Result for today: -16 ticks (-$80) Euro FX 5 minutes: 7:50am â Long at 13245 (reversal trade), initial stop at 13239 â all out at 13247. 8:00am â Long at 13241 (reversal trade), initial stop at 13235 â all out at 13237. Result for today: -4 ticks (-$50) To be consistent with my recordings I add my monthly summary (hypothetical result due to 2 contracts): July: Euro FX: +39 ticks (+$487.50) Mini Dow: +195 (+$975) Mini Russell: +183 (+$1830) August: Euro FX: +24 ticks (+$300) Mini Dow: +212 (+$1,060) Mini Russell: +19 (+$190) September: Mini Dow: -25 ticks (-$125) Mini Russell: +57 ticks (+$570) October: Euro FX: +101 ticks (+$1,262.50) Mini Dow: +63 ticks (+$315) Mini Russell: +38 ticks (+$380) November (till 11/22): Euro FX: -33 ticks (-$412.50) 17 trades Mini Dow: +46 ticks (+$230) 13 trades Mini Russell: -27 ticks (-$270) 15 trades I am only paper trading at the moment until my equity curve is moving up again! November (11/23 till now â paper trading): Result for today: -30 ticks (-$325) 5 trades Mini Dow: +22 ticks (+$110) 5 trades Mini Russell: +44 ticks (+$440) 2 trade
neat thread andy - keep it up. fwiw i think this is the big issue of trading. theres tons of good advise out there but some of it will always contradict. trading is about knowing what 2 do and when not to do 'it' if there were fixed rules that could be applied at all times, et wouldnt be such a lively place and wed all be rich sorry 2 state the obvious
Euro FX 60 minutes: 8:30am â Long TTE (RH) at 13313, initial stop at 13303 â covered fist lot at 13318, second at b/e. Euro FX 5 minutes: 8:50am â Long TTE (RH) at 13321, initial stop at 13313 â all out at 13313. Result for today: -11 ticks (-$137.50) Mini Russell 30 minutes: 1:30am â Short TTE (123) at 6341, initial stop 6349 â all out at 6349. Result for today: -16 ticks (-$160) To be consistent with my recordings I add my monthly summary (hypothetical result due to 2 contracts): July: Euro FX: +39 ticks (+$487.50) Mini Dow: +195 (+$975) Mini Russell: +183 (+$1830) August: Euro FX: +24 ticks (+$300) Mini Dow: +212 (+$1,060) Mini Russell: +19 (+$190) September: Mini Dow: -25 ticks (-$125) Mini Russell: +57 ticks (+$570) October: Euro FX: +101 ticks (+$1,262.50) Mini Dow: +63 ticks (+$315) Mini Russell: +38 ticks (+$380) November (till 11/22): Euro FX: -33 ticks (-$412.50) 17 trades Mini Dow: +46 ticks (+$230) 13 trades Mini Russell: -27 ticks (-$270) 15 trades I am only paper trading at the moment until my equity curve is moving up again! November (11/23 till now â paper trading): Euro FX: -41 ticks (-$512.50) 7 trades Mini Dow: +22 ticks (+$110) 5 trades Mini Russell: +28 ticks (+$280) 3 trades
Mini Dow 10 minutes: 9:10am â Short at 10503 (reversal), initial stop at 10513 â all out at 105013. Mini Dow 30 minutes: 9:30am â Long TTE (RH) at 10524, initial stop at 10514 â covered first lot at 10534, second at 10554. Result for today: +20 ticks (+$200) Euro FX 5 minutes: 8:50am â Short at 13313 (reversal), initial stop at 13321 â all out at 13314 (time stop). Result for today: -2 ticks (-$25) To be consistent with my recordings I add my monthly summary (hypothetical result due to 2 contracts): July: Euro FX: +39 ticks (+$487.50) Mini Dow: +195 (+$975) Mini Russell: +183 (+$1830) August: Euro FX: +24 ticks (+$300) Mini Dow: +212 (+$1,060) Mini Russell: +19 (+$190) September: Mini Dow: -25 ticks (-$125) Mini Russell: +57 ticks (+$570) October: Euro FX: +101 ticks (+$1,262.50) Mini Dow: +63 ticks (+$315) Mini Russell: +38 ticks (+$380) November (till 11/22): Euro FX: -33 ticks (-$412.50) 17 trades Mini Dow: +46 ticks (+$230) 13 trades Mini Russell: -27 ticks (-$270) 15 trades I am only paper trading at the moment until my equity curve is moving up again! November (11/23 till now â paper trading): Euro FX: -43 ticks (-$537.50) 8 trades Mini Dow: +42 ticks (+$210) 7 trades Mini Russell: +28 ticks (+$280) 3 trades
Trading is getting better again Euro FX 10 minutes: 8:30am â Long TTE (RH) at 13350, initial stop at 13342 â covered first lot at 13358, second at 13352. 9:50am â Short TTE (RH) at 13275, initial stop at 13283 â covered first lot at 13267, second at 13248. Result for today: +45 ticks (+$562.50) Mini Russell 10 minutes: 12:30am â Short TTE (RH) at 6416, initial stop at 6422 â covered at 6410. Result for today: +12 ticks (+$120) To be consistent with my recordings I add my monthly summary (hypothetical result due to 2 contracts): July: Euro FX: +39 ticks (+$487.50) Mini Dow: +195 (+$975) Mini Russell: +183 (+$1830) August: Euro FX: +24 ticks (+$300) Mini Dow: +212 (+$1,060) Mini Russell: +19 (+$190) September: Mini Dow: -25 ticks (-$125) Mini Russell: +57 ticks (+$570) October: Euro FX: +101 ticks (+$1,262.50) Mini Dow: +63 ticks (+$315) Mini Russell: +38 ticks (+$380) November (till 11/22): Euro FX: -33 ticks (-$412.50) 17 trades Mini Dow: +46 ticks (+$230) 13 trades Mini Russell: -27 ticks (-$270) 15 trades I am only paper trading at the moment until my equity curve is moving up again! November (11/23 till now â paper trading): Euro FX: +2 ticks (+$25) 10 trades Mini Dow: +42 ticks (+$210) 7 trades Mini Russell: +40 ticks (+$400) 4 trades
Hello Andy, you claimed to work with Refco. May I ask you if you are using Refco Express for Daytrading or do you work with another broker (no need to name it in that case)? Regards, Peter
Hi Peter, I have worked a long time with Express. At the moment we are using Strategy Runner because we are trading different accounts. For the spread trading I am still using Express of course. Happy trading, Andy